The twins – yes, I said twins, look good. I’m not quite as far along (only by a couple of days) as I would have thought, and this is an agonizing alteration to my pregnancy “schedule.” What I mean is that as a loss momma, that last thing I want to be doing is backing up in time… adding MORE time into the 1st trimester.

Both babies are measuring about the same size. Both babies’ heartbeats were easily detected and measured right around 130 which is good for 6 weeks 4 days or so. We were so thankful to see those sweet flickers again.

My husband and I found out definitively about the twins about a week ago. A nurse at the RE’s office recommended a scan because my HCG numbers doubled too quickly. At about 5-1/2 or 6 weeks we were able to see two sacs and even visualize the heartbeats for both babies. I call them my little flickers.

Health Reform: I was thrilled to have been invited to attend a local health reform meeting to represent consumer concerns. I introduced myself as an University professor and a professional opera singer which of course got a couple of laughs. Then, I continued by saying that I’m a consumer advocate and come to this gathering as a woman with a scarred uterus. The main concerns I articulated as a cesarean mom were:

A high local cesarean rate (around 31%); a low VBAC rate (about 1%) at the hospital

A lack of support for the local birth center

Decrease in numbers of CNMs locally

Insurance and health care costs

Insurance company driven health “care”

Additionally, it alarms me that even with my supposed “good” health coverage, I am struggling to pay last year’s medical bills. The bills are overwhelming, so they pile up, and my credit score is suffering as well.

Arts Advocacy: I am one of the educations outreach directors for a new opera company. We had a meeting today to help prepare for the next board meeting and our upcoming educational outreach program.

I even managed to mop the floors. I’d say it was a pretty darned productive day.

I am just a messenger. This is extremely important and requires quick action. I know it’s a crazy busy time of year, but please do take a moment to make these calls. Midwifery is good for women and babies! Support a woman’s access to ethical and mother/baby-friendly care.

American Association of Birth Centers
Legislative Alert

URGENT – Make Calls before December 22nd!

We are making progress with education of the House and Senate about the need to add the birth center facility to Medicaid covered services! But, many Representatives and Senators have not yet had a call from you or your clients. We must have sponsors from both parties! We are also targeting key people who will vote YES or NO whether our bill will get out of committee and to the floor — once we have introduced the bill.

Please make calls to congressional health staffers this week before the holiday recess!

1. Click hereto get the names and phone numbers of the Washington D.C. offices of your two Senators and your Representative.

2. Ask the name of the healthcare staffer and ask to speak to them.
3. Write down their name and phone number.

4. Tell them you own/direct/work at/are a consumer of/care about the services of a birth center.

5. Tell them that a bill will be introduced soon to add birth centers to Medicaid. [NOTE: the bill does not yet have a bill number.]

6. Ask for their support and sponsorship of our bill to add birth centers to Medicaid. That’s all you need to say–we’ll do the rest.

7. Then call or email AABC’s lobbyist Karen Fennell (301-830-3910, karenfennell50 @ yahoo.com or me (423-253-4455, jkalliman @ yahoo.com to tell us what they said. We will follow up.

NOTE: We do not have a bill number because it is not yet introduced, but we want to introduce the bill in January and need sponsors now. We can send them the draft bill language if they are interested in sponsoring the bill.

image attribution: justinandelise (flickr)

This is urgent if we want to sustain birth centers in the United States. Please call today.

Please pass this on to your Friends of the Birth Center groups and ask them to call too.

I’ve really started to pay attention to how babies act in the days, weeks, and months after they are born. I’m starting to really buy into the idea that naturally-born babies tend to be more calm, more confident, and sleep better than babies who experience traumatic births.

Fact. My daughter didn’t sleep well and was difficult to calm as a young baby.

Fact. My student’s wife just had their first baby at home. Calm. Chill. That’s how this baby is described.

Fact. My best girlfriend here in town just had her third baby at a birth center. Calm. Chill. I’ve seen first-hand how calm and secure this little guy is. He’s only 2 days old and he clearly recognizes his mother’s voice. They were only at the birth center for a few hours following the birth. And my friend is SO IN LOVE with him.

Now, I’m not trying to suggest that ALL homebirthed babies or all babies born at birth centers are calm and quiet, and ALL hospital-born babies are difficult, but as I’ve learned from Diane Wiessinger, the birth environment and the birthing act/ritual have a tremendous impact on the mother-baby dyad.

Dr. Sarah J. Buckley, MD writes: “The connections between events at birth and long-term health certainly deserve more study.1 But we cannot afford to wait for years for researchers to prove the benefits of an undisturbed birth. Perhaps the best we can do is trust our instincts and vote with our birthing bodies, choosing models of care that increase our chances of undisturbed- and ecstatic- birthing.”

The three examples that I made above – my child, my friend’s child, and my student’s child – are not the only ones that I can think of that strengthen my belief that how a baby is brought into the world is critical to his/her health, happiness, and development. Talk to everyone you know who has had a baby and find out what their early experiences with their children were like. I’m certain you will observe patterns in what you hear and see.